Thermal printing is a term broadly used to describe several different families of technology for making an image on a substrate. Those technologies include hot stamping, direct thermal printing, dye diffusion printing and thermal mass transfer printing.
Hot stamping is a mechanical printing system in which a pattern is stamped or embossed through a ribbon onto a substrate, such as disclosed in WO95/12515. The pattern is imprinted onto the substrate by the application of heat and pressure to the pattern. A colored material on the ribbon, such as a dye or ink, is thereby transferred to the substrate where the pattern has been applied. The substrate can be preheated prior to imprinting the pattern on the substrate. Since the stamp pattern is fixed, hot stamping cannot easily be used to apply variable indicia or images on the substrate. Consequently, hot stamping is typically not useful for printing variable information, such as printing sheets used to make license plates.
Direct thermal printing was commonly used in older style facsimile machines. Those systems required a special substrate that includes a colorant so that localized heat can change the color in the specified location. In operation, the substrate is conveyed past an arrangement of tiny individual heating elements, or pixels, that selectively heat (or not heat) the substrate. Wherever the pixels heat the substrate, the substrate changes color. By coordinating the heating action of the pixels, images such as letters and numbers can form on the substrate. However, the substrate can change color unintentionally such as when exposed to light, heat or mechanical forces.
Dye diffusion thermal transfer involves the transport of dye by the physical process of diffusion from a dye donor layer into a dye receiving substrate. Typically, the surface of the film to be printed further comprises a dye receptive layer in order to promote such diffusion. Similar to direct thermal printing, the ribbon containing the dye and the substrate is conveyed past an arrangement of heating elements (pixels) that selectively heat the ribbon. Wherever the pixels heat the ribbon, solid dye liquefies and transfers to the substrate via diffusion. Some known dyes chemically interact with the substrate after being transferred by dye diffusion. Color formation in the substrate may depend on a chemical reaction. Consequently, the color density may not fully develop if the thermal energy (the temperature attained or the time elapsed) is too low. Thus, color development using dye diffusion is often augmented by a post-printing step such as thermal fusing.
Thermal mass transfer printing, also known as thermal transfer printing, non-impact printing, thermal graphic printing and thermography, has become popular and commercially successful for forming characters on a substrate. Like hot stamping, heat and pressure are used to transfer an image from a ribbon onto a substrate. Like direct thermal printing and dye diffusion printing, pixel heaters selectively heat the ribbon to transfer the colorant to the substrate. However, the colorant on the ribbon used for thermal mass transfer printing comprises a polymeric binder having a wax base, resin base or mixture thereof typically containing pigments and/or dyes. During printing, the ribbon is positioned between the print head and the exposed surface of the polymer film. The print head contacts the thermal mass transfer ribbon and the pixel heater heats the ribbon such that it transfers the colorant from the ribbon to the film as the film passes through the thermal mass transfer printer.
Thermal mass transfer has been described for imaging retroreflective sheeting. See for example WO 94/19769 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,105.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,376 describes a photocurable thermally transferable composition containing a multifunctional monomer that is substantially non-liquid at room temperature and a thermoplastic binder. The composition is suitable to use in thermal transfer ribbons. After thermal transfer, the compositions are photocured to provide a durable, weatherable image, on a graphic article.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,982 describes thermal transfer articles comprising a carrier, optional release layer, a color layer releasably adhered thereto, and optionally an adherence layer on the bottom side of the color layer. The transfer articles are radiation crosslinked after transfer such that a durable image is formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,757 describes coatable thermal mass transfer precursor compositions comprising a polyalkylene binder precursor, an acrylic binder precursor, an effective amount of pigment and a diluent (preferably water). As described at column 4, lines 54-56, the polyalkylene latex and acrylic latex binder precursors are immiscible. The acrylic latex binder forms islands in the film formed by the polyalkylene binder.
Colorless thermal mass transfer ribbons have been employed to print on top of both thermal mass transferred imaged and unimaged retroreflective sheeting. Such retroreflective sheeting printed with commercially available colorless thermal mass transfer ribbons has been found to exhibit reduced gloss and lower retroreflected brightness.